large guage 1 layout

[icepuck]

Does anyone know whats the largest guage 1 layout made? Just curious.
I have ~3.5 acres(I just finished mowing) that takes me about 5 hours to mow with my small diesel tractor, which gives me plenty of time to think about the other things I could be doing.After reading this fourm and looking at the pictures, I've been working on some ideas.
Six laps around the perimiter of my property equals about 1.1mi.This brings up the idea of having the mainline run around the perimiter of my property and branching off at different towns or villages that could be formed around some the plum,apple,and cherry trees. My eight year old nice had the idea of a Hello Kitty and Smurf villages.[:D]The Smurfs could transport plums to Hello Kitty and Hello Kitty could transport cherries or apples to the smurf village.Frieght would serve as the main purpose of the rr,with some passenger use as well. Keep in mind some of these ideas were generated in the heat of the sun this weekend while mowing[8D]

[Anonymous]

This sounds wonderful, have you got deep pockets?

If so start with a small circuit and expand from there. if you are building for months or years even the fun will go out of it and so will you!

Rgds ian

[ttrigg]

QUOTE: Originally posted by iandor

This sounds wonderful, have you got deep pockets?

Ian speaks volumes in so few words!

Let's break it out a little, I figure that my track costs about $6 USD per foot. Now that takes in the cost of track, switches, bridges, ballast (1/4"-), garden fabric, rocks (1"~3"), and gravel (1/2"+). 1.1 mile loop will run about $34,000.......... Hope you got DEEP POCKETS!

QUOTE: start with a small circuit and expand from there. if you are building for months or years even the fun will go out of it and so will you!

What ever you decide to do remember: If all else fail, just have fun.

[Tom The Brat]

Amazing what we think about while mowing[:D]

I used to think about making a robot lawn mower.

[kstrong]

Building a garden railroad to cut down on mowing the lawn is very much akin to leaving the freezer door open to save on air conditioning--not exactly the most efficient use of time or energy. The railroad will require far more maintenance than the lawn ever will.

That's not meant to discourage you from your vision, but many people--myself included--have at one time set upon building empires that far exceed our abilities to maintain. Ian's words about starting small cannot be stated emphatically enough.

My current railroad is substantially smaller than the one I had back east, and is far, far more manageable both in terms of maintenance, but also simply getting things completed. As a result, I'm able to get out and enjoy it as opposed to seeing it as a constant reminder of what is not yet finished. (And while it's not mentioned in the current GR series, it does contain a small Smurf village; a nod to my wife's whimsical nature.)

Later,

K

[Tom The Brat]

My dad always said he was just going to pave the yard and paint it green!

[Anonymous]

For $34,000 you could buy areal loco!

[icepuck]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Torby

My dad always said he was just going to pave the yard and paint it green!

Thats the same thing my dad used say when he had to do the mowing.

I guess I could buy a robotic mower.

The mainline would be 0.1833333 mi. Six times around the mainline would be about 1.1mi. I need to measure to be certian. At this length it really would be a test of endurance for any loco. [:D]

These are just ideas for the moment of how far things could go.For starting out I think I would take over just a small part of the yard.

[icepuck]

QUOTE: Originally posted by newrockcity

For $34,000 you could buy areal loco!

There is a little engines 4-4-2 on ebay starting out at us$16,500

[Marty Cozad]

Thats what I would do next time. Go around the edge so I can maintain it easier.
We mow parts of our 4 acres once a month. the main yard and RR area get once a week.
out in the country we don't keep the yards as "perfect" as does city slickers

[MTCarpenter]

If you've got a lot of room, this should inspire you...

http://www.jf2.com/pbjrr/g.html

[Anonymous]

My wife and i were just discussing how much we have spent on our Garden railway which is not a big one by any means and we don' have a lot of rolling stock. To quantify 160 m track, 6 very modern locos and about 25 to 30 prettty classy other rolling stock and we reckon we have spent about A$30k to A $40k say US $23k to US $35 K and the man hours would run into thousands as well.

So just take it bit by bit and spend what you can afford and while your railway is expanding you are smiling; the minute it stops expanding or improving it will die.

Rgds ian